I’ll be at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention in London, and among other fun stuff, I’ll moderate two panels. I think I got to be a moderator because I fearlessly volunteered to moderate – perhaps not everyone does. And as moderator, I’m already in contact with the panelists so we can come ready to make the most of our time and yours.

Translating GenreFriday, 11:00 to 12:00, Capital Suite 8Translations of SF/F books from one language to another offer a snapshot of the global SF/F scene, and in recent years it seems there has been an uptick in translated material available in the English-language market. But how representative is the sample of books translated into English? What factors determine which books get translated, and which don't? Who initiates a translation: does the translator work on spec, or are they commissioned by overseas publishers? How are translated books marketed to their new audiences? And why are so many SF and fantasy works by English-language authors translated into other languages, year after year, while so few from the rest of the world make their way into English?With a panel that brings experience and expertise: Gili Bar-Hillel, Tom Clegg, Elisabeth Vonarburg, Marian Womack.

The World at Worldcon: SF/F in SpainSaturday 18:00 - 19:00, London Suite 3“Fantastic fiction” has deep roots in Spain. After a setback during the Franco dictatorship, it recovered in the 1980s and had an authentic boom in the 1990s. Today, it hosts fifty specialized publishers and a healthy scene of blogs, conventions, festivals, online magazines, and podcasts – plus anthologies, some recently translated into English, and more still to come. This panel of Spanish writers and readers will discuss the scene. Who are the key science fiction, fantasy and horror authors working in Spain at the moment? Where is Spanish fiction being reviewed, and what debates are going on in Spanish fan circles?With some of the most important people in Spanish fandom today: Susana Arroyo, Miquel Codony Bodas, Elías Combarro, Leticia Lara, Cristina Jurado.

I'm hoping we can catch up while in the same location (I am full of hope! - it's a big convention).

Also, I keep meaning to tell you that I was next to a Spanish-language SF writer last Friday at lunch. Daniel Martin (or M Daniel Martin - I don't know if his pen name is different to his use-name, but we called him Daniel) is based at the same uni as me and teaches Spanish language but published in SF in the Spanish speaking world. My university has a glut of SF writers who do everything but SF in their day job there!

As far as I know, Daniel Martín is a South American SF writer, and I don't know a lot about them. Here in Spain, one of my favorite SF writers is an aeronautical engineer by day. Another handles computer programming for a bank. Another teaches English and translates. There isn't a lot of money to be made in SF in Spanish, so almost none of them earns a living by writing.

He's Australian-Argentinian. There can't be many Aussie-Argentinian spec fic writers! What's interesting is that he has no links with the English language communities local to him. He keeps meaning to attend a convention or a meeting and has not done so, so he lives in a town with a particularly strong spec fic writing community but his links are with South America. Language is a strange divide...